The Passionate Pursuit of Delight

Ingredient: Dried cranberries

It isn’t just the alliteration that I love about these Cheddar and Cranberry Chutney Crostini. I also love how you can transform a few simple ingredients into a festive and delicious bite. These crostini would be perfect when you have friends coming over for a drink or to accompany a pot of soup.

Let’s start at the base. For the crostini you can both buy a baguette and make your own by slicing it up, brushing each slice with a little bit of olive oil on both sides, and seasoning with salt. To crisp up the slices, just pop the slices under the broiler or on a grill for a few minutes be sure to flip during cooking so that both sides are crisp.

Another option is to buy sliced, crisped cocktail toasts at the grocery store. These packages are usually found near the deli section. They are great to have in your pantry and can be topped so many different ways for easy appetizers.

Once you’ve decided on your crostini base your next choice will be to consider the cheese. I know it says cheddar in the title but there are so many things to think about! Firstly, do you like mild, medium, or sharp cheddar? I love sharp cheddar and think it pairs well with the cranberry chutney. But, if you prefer mild then by all means, go with mild cheddar. I used white cheddar when I took these photographs because I thought it would look pretty but yellow cheddar is perfectly fine.

Now to the fun part! Chutney. I am not going to lie. I love chutney. I always have some at the ready to add to a cheese plate or add some zing to grains or rice side dishes. Chutney is easily made by combining your ingredients (typically, fruit, nuts, and spices) into a small saucepan and simmering until the fruit softens and the mixture of flavors comes together. In this case, the cooking time on the chutney is about 15 minutes.

How to Make Cheddar Cranberry Chutney Crostini

The last step is an assembly job. Line a baking sheet with parchment and place the crostini on the parchment. Add a slice of your delicious cheddar to the crostini and pop into the oven until the cheese melts. Remove from the oven and add a dollop of chutney to each crostini. You can finish it off with a bit of parsley (you can parsley your crostini a little less aggressively than I did if you wish).

How much time do you spend thinking about rice? I mean, where does it come from? Do you know how it grows and is harvested? I must admit that I hadn’t given it much thought until I read Amy Thielen’s Give a Girl a Knife and she talked about her husband harvesting wild rice near their home in Minnesota. Be sure to check out the video below that shows two guys in a canoe harvesting wild rice. You will never look at wild rice the same again.

Inspired by the harvesting process, I picked up a bag of wild rice at Trader Joe’s. Wild rice is low-carb and gluten-free, so this wild rice salad might be a welcome addition to your Thanksgiving table. Which brings up a topic that I am endlessly curious about, Thanksgiving menus. Are you a traditionalist or do you like to mix it up with new recipes?

I have always been a new recipe kind of girl and didn’t realize how contentious that could be for people. Who knew that replacing the traditional green bean casserole with haricots vert with a lemon almond gremolata could have ruined Thanksgiving for some of my family members a few years back? Oops!

Wild rice has a chewy texture and nutty taste and makes a hearty base for this salad. Truth be told, when I created this recipe recently it was because I needed a dish to bring to a potluck gathering. My goal was to make a dish using only ingredients that I had on hand so I wouldn’t have to go to the grocery store. The good news is that most of these ingredients are pantry items that you might have in your kitchen.

I will cut to the chase, this wild rice salad got great reviews! The dried fruit adds a little bit of sweetness to the salad while the green onions and parsley add freshness. The almonds lend some crunch. Whether you make this for a potluck or for Thanksgiving, the good news is that you can make it a day ahead of time. I think it tastes better after sitting for a day. If you make it ahead of time, I would reserve a little bit of fresh parsley to garnish the salad just before serving.

I am in love with these homemade dark chocolate bites. Don’t they look practically gourmet? Many of my friends and families received a bag of these beauties as part of their holiday gifts last year.

Best of all, you can make a batch of these in less time than it takes to watch an episode of Gilmore Girls. I know this because I did and you can too. They are that easy!

Another great thing about these elegant dark chocolate bites is that you can customize them to match your tastes. The ingredients that you add to the chocolate can be intentional and match a theme for the season or use whatever ingredients you happen to have in your pantry.

I made these last year for the holidays and used pepitas which are roasted pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries for their green and red colors. I added candied ginger because of its warm spiciness, coconut chips and hemp seeds for crunch and visual interest. They turned out pretty, right?

But you could swap out pepitas for pistachios or almonds. Or, you can use dried blueberries or apricots instead of cranberries, or any other flavor or color combinations that you fancy.

The process for making these candies couldn’t be easier. This is a perfect project for beginning candy-makers. You melt the chocolate in the microwave, spoon the melted chocolate onto a parchment lined baking sheet, and then add the topics. Chill in fridge until the chocolate hardens. Seriously, that is all it takes to make these elegant and easy chocolate candies.

I like to package these chocolates in small cellophane bags and tie them up with pretty ribbon or string. Add a festive tag and you have beautiful and tasty holiday treats ready to give (or eat)!

Hi, I am Diane. Welcome to Hello Fun Seekers. Do you love good food and traveling? Then you are in the right place. I seek out the best information and share it with you here.
I am also on social media if that is more your thing. So join me. Let’s connect.